Heart's Desire
by LadySunsetScales
Summary: She promised to give him his deepest heart's desire, and he really had no choice but to believe her, didn't he? (ChoRobin stuff, HUMAN!Chopper...not really sure what else is going to happen lol)
1. Chapter 1

"Land! I see land!"

Chopper looked up at the crow's nest at Nami's announcement. He grinned widely, for he couldn't remember the last time the crew had seen land. Sure enough, Luffy was out of the galley before Nami could even finish the declaration, taking his spot on the figurehead to see for himself. A rather mischievous laugh sounded from him, and he turned to face his crew.

"Finally, we can get some more food!" Luffy commented, seeming to point the statement meaningfully at Sanji.

Sanji only rolled his eyes and lit a cigarette. Zoro leaned against the mainmast and grinned. It was no secret everyone on the crew was driving him crazy.

Chopper strained to see past them, to see if Robin was there. She had just come out of the lower cabin, a small smile illuminating her lovely face.

"I was beginning to wonder if we'd ever see land again," she remarked.

Chopper found himself grinning stupidly at the sound of her voice. No matter what she was saying, it always seemed to intoxicate him.

He couldn't remember when it started, really. When Robin had first joined the crew, every fiber of Chopper's being wanted her off the ship. He was scared of her. Then, the day came when the crew left the two of them alone to watch the ship. After he'd done a good job of making a mess of things, he and Robin got time to talk. They exchanged stories, and Chopper came away from the experience feeling much closer to her. She seemed to be rather fond of him as well. Over time, it must have festered into something more. Heartache became a regular feeling for Chopper, to an even larger extent than what it used to be. It had been so hard for him to accept that friendship could come to someone like him; so how could he expect someone as stunningly beautiful and intelligent as Robin to love him?


	2. Chapter 2

Zoro dropped the anchor into the relatively shallow portion of sea they stopped at.

"Are we all ready to go yet?" Luffy demanded impatiently.

He'd only heard the 'y' in Nami's response before he vaulted overboard and ran off in some unknown direction. Nami siighed.

"Guess we're not seeing him for a few hours," she commented tiredly.

"He'll be back by the time we set sail again," Zoro assured her.

"So, Luffy aside, where are we all going to be?" Nami asked.

She had the idea that it was good to know where to look for the others in case she ran into trouble.

"Probably wandering aimlessly," Zoro responded with a shrug.

"Uh, I'll go with Zoro to make sure he doesn't get lost," Usopp offered.

Zoro rolled his eyes. "Shut up, Usopp."

"I'm stocking up on the food we have so that Luffy will stop whining about it," Sanji explained, getting off the ship himself before letting anyone else have their say.

"I'm getting more ink, maybe some paper. Honestly, I'm just glad to get a chance to walk around on real land," Nami laughed. "Where are you going, Robin?"

"I'll probably look for new reading material," she said with a shrug.

"And I'll look into some more medical supplies," Chopper added, though he desperately wanted to claim that he was going to spend the day with Robin.

"Alright. We'll meet back here...I don't know, sometime soon. It might be tomorrow. I'll be back tonight, though. Maybe in three hours or so? I can't really set a time for you all to come back because of our captain."

Zoro and Usopp were already leaving.

"That's fine, Nami," Chopper replied, hopping off the ship himself.

He forced himself to keep his attention away from Robin as he headed into town. He wasn't familiar with this island at all and was beginning to wonder if he himself would get lost.

Chopper was beginning to wish he'd volunteered to go with Zoro.

Thankfully, the buildings were clearly labeled, which was all a reindeer could ask for in the Grand Line.

It was a strange mixture of two types of marketplaces, which meant there was a plethora of both indoor shops and outdoor stands. People were calling to him to check out their wares as he trotted down the street in his tiny hybrid form. He didn't hear any of them at first.

Then, the words "Heart's Desire" caught his ear.

He wasn't sure why it did, but he turned toward the source of the words anyway. Sitting behind a stand was a middle-aged woman who looked like she would be more suited to fortune-telling than selling whatever it was she had out. Her skin was just barely darker than Robin's, and she had jetblack hair that flowed down to the middle of her back at least. As Chopper grew nearer, he took note of her tantalizing green eyes, so bright against the rest of her dark features that they seemed surreal. Her clothes were scarcely remarkable compared to the rest of her: Only a yellow-and-brown-pinstriped tank top and what looked to be a floor-length skirt(this, Chopper realised, must have been what brought to mind a fortune teller).

"Ah, yes," she greeted him with a smirk, her voice void of any exotic accent that might have been expected of her. "I see I caught your attention. Tell me, young one, do you believe in magic?"

Magic? Chopper puzzled over this concept. Certainly, he'd never seen it in action. In actuality, he'd never even heard of it spoken of seriously. Anything people tried to attribute to magic was always waved off as a devil fruit power instead.

"I don't think so," he finally answered, hating how unsure he sounded.

It was something about her that left him doubting himself, doubting the things he'd been raised to believe.

"Unsure, are we?" she remarked, her smirk seeming to grow more cocky, more sinister. "What would you say if I were able to demonstrate it?"

Chopper was afraid it was going to cost him too much money, and that he'd be proven an idiot for giving it away in the end.

"I don't have any money," he lied.

Her smirk was an all-out grin now.

"Let's call it a free sample," she offered, though Chopper sensed no kindness in the offer.

"Okay," he said suspiciously, moving closer to the stand as the woman pulled out a small metal bar and set it on the crate she sat behind.

"Watch closely, for this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

Chopper needed no incentive to glue his eyes to the metal bar. He couldn't imagine what she could do with such a plain and boring item, in spite of all of the extraordinary experiences he'd lived through.

As he watched, however, the woman simply touched the bar and shut her eyes. Before Chopper, in only a matter of seconds, sat a fat hunk of gold where the bar used to be.

"Whoa!" he cried, overwhelmed with excitement. "How did you do that?"

"A magician never reveals her tricks," the woman chuckled. "However, for a price, I could help you do much the same. I could help you reach your true potential as a sentient being, make you realise your dreams much easier, help you find your - " here, she leaned in and dropped her voice to a whisper, " - heart's desire."

If nothing else, that was what sold it for the little reindeer. It was almost as if the woman had been inside his head when those words had stood out to him. Besides, how could he argue with the chance to better his medical skills, the chance to have Robin all to himself?

His furry little face heated at the thought, and he was glad no-one could see the undoubtedly reddened flesh beneath his fur coat.

"Okay. How much do you want?"

The self-proclaimed magician took the gold bar back.

"Let's count this as part of the price, and you only have to pay five hundred beri."

Five hundred beri? It wasn't as much as he'd anticipated. However, it was no amount to sneeze at, either. It took a chunk of his money equivalent to about one-fourth of it, but he supposed he would never get a chance like this again. Money could be found, stolen, or earned at any opportunity; but magic was never even found on the Grand Line. He considered how lucky he was and decided, ultimately, to take the deal.

He forked over the five hundred and braced himself for some kind of magic blast. To his utter shock, the woman lifted him to the crate and brought his little snout to her lips. After that, he felt an otherworldly tingling sensation, followed by utter nothingness.


End file.
